


The Ceremony

by Solstice0612



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Deathfic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 12:03:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8013049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solstice0612/pseuds/Solstice0612
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They thought the ceremony would forever bind them together. WARNING: Death fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ceremony

**Author's Note:**

> A big honking thank you to my lovely betas Lisuni and Eilidh17.

Jack sat down on his old Adirondack armchair at the end of the short dock. He missed sitting directly on the edge of the deck, but the fact was that he could no longer manage it without a struggle. In front of him, the quiet pond teemed with life in the late spring day. The metal container warmed up on his lap, while Jack waited to proceed. In recent years, he and Daniel had talked so many times about this ceremony…

They had argued for weeks about the best site for it. Should it be near the cabin in Minnesota or somewhere near Cheyenne Mountain? Since Abydos was long gone, Daniel proposed some city in Egypt where he had lived when he was a child, but Jack felt no personal connection to the place. They even spent a few days talking about the garden of Jack’s old house in the Springs, but it no longer belonged to them so the whole thing would have been rather awkward. 

Jack, still in love with the way life looked at thirty thousand feet up in the air, came up with the idea of a low orbit ceremony on board of some ship or another, but Daniel wanted—needed, really--to be closer to the ground. They went around and around, arguing about this ceremony, always believing it a necessary step in moving on to the next stage together, whatever that would be. 

They expected that Jack, already passed the age of retirement, would be ready to move on before Daniel, who had a hard time cutting his final ties to the SGC. They spent quite a bit of time making provisions and preparing for this uncertain scenario. It was not that they were anxious about the future, but Jack, ever the thoughtful commander, needed something to plan and to strategize, in order to make sure that whatever happen, it would be less stressful. Life, being what it is, was sure to throw them for a loop.

And, of course, life did. Nothing ever went according to plan.

Daniel left first. One moment he was happily opening a shipment of books when he complained of a nasty headache and then his legs gave way from under him. In the speeding ambulance, he opened his eyes and silently said goodbye to Jack, siting next to him holding his unresponsive hand. He remained in life support until Sam, Teal’c, Vala and Cam arrived, but he was already gone. His body was cremated, but even then things did not go smoothly, as a faulty mechanism made the process more cumbersome than necessary. 

Exhausted and upset, Jack took the ashes home to the cabin. His friends knew him well enough to leave a week worth of meals in the large freezer and give the man some space.

If he were younger, thought Jack, he would have rowed his boat into the center of the pond, seen how the ashes changed color upon contact with the glistening surface, and gone back to the cabin for a large bottle of something strong. But he was too tired for a boat ride; the pain of mourning had drained much of his strength. Daniel’s ashes waited in the container on his lap, to be dropped into the same gentle pond water where Jack would come to rest one day, perhaps in the not too distant future. 

They had eventually decided the pond would be the best place for their final, private goodbye. Part of Jack wanted to be with Charlie, but Daniel had been his whole life for a very long time. He missed him so much. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Daniel was just around the corner, that he would come home any moment to remind him to go by the post office or the supermarket when he was in town. The enormity of Jack's loss made his chest ache with sorrow. With a long sigh, he closed his tearing eyes, feeling the warmth of the early afternoon sun on his skin before falling asleep.

===

“Jack!”

The breeze, cooled down by the setting sun, ruffled the long white hair strands framing the wrinkled face of the man resting by the pond.

“Jack!”

The man heard the call, but sleep felt like a lead blanket. “Yeah?” he answered without moving, without opening his eyes.

“It’s me. Time to go.”

“What?”

“Jack! Come on!”

The resting man did not move. Yet, his body rippled under the darkening sky as it duplicated itself, the glinting version rising forward on the seat, while the opaque body remained solidly anchored to the wood armchair. Jack, young and shimmering, raised his eyes towards the splendid figure floating a few inches over the water. 

“Daniel? What’s going on?”

“I ascended.”

“That was so not the plan.”

“Um, I guess not. Sorry.” 

“I thought we were going to rest. As in peace. In the pond, with the fish. Both of us, together. We decided.”

“I know. It was kind of automatic. It just happened.”

“Oh. So you’re leaving, right? I guess I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“You’re coming with me.”

“Daniel…. You know, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can, Jack, and it’s time to go.”

“You mean, like now?”

“Yes. If you allow yourself to rise all the way up you’ll be ready.”

“Rise up?”

“Yes. Think of it as… Just come’re and give me a hug!”

Daniel opened his shining arms and Jack’s automatic impulse to hold his lover again did the job. The two spectral figures fused into pure gleaming light. Their glowing tendrils became intertwined, their curling lights casting eerie reflections on the water’s surface. Jack and Daniel held on to each other for a long time, basking in the intense feeling of love and comfort their blended ethereal forms generated.

“Daniel, I missed you so much.”

“I was never too far from you, Jack. But we’re together now. Look back at the dock.”

Jack turned around and saw his clothes draped on the chair, the container holding the ashes of Daniel’s empty coffin resting on them.

As they ascended, the intertwined figures noticed the headlights of a car driving towards the cabin. Further up, the Milky Way’s starry clouds blazed against the dark velvety sky. Somewhere in its vast space, a sandy planet beckoned, with its endless sunshine and undrinkable moonshine, suspended in a reality only the few could ever dream of seeing.

The End


End file.
